Phoebe Collings-James

The Subtle Rules the Dense is a series of masks/torsos/body plates that Phoebe Collings-James cast from mannequins and then worked by hand. The resulting objects lie ambiguously between a representation of a human torso and a shamanistic mask. The work is reminiscent of Yoruba and Makonde body masks that portray pregnant forms, as well as Roman armor with nipple rings. Collings-James synthesizes these sources into a ceramic sculpture that is simultaneously menacing, erotic, male, and female. The work references the complexity of the human organism and its fragility, its ability to bleed out. It speaks to race, cultural origin, sexuality, and gender, but exists in a state of constant becoming as it oscillates between torso and face—coming into being and becoming undone. As armor and masquerade the object signifies something that protects, shields, and hides human vulnerability.

Collings-James’s use of sgraffito, glazes, slips, and oxides is intuitive and complex, endowing the work with a variety of textures, and has its roots in painting and drawing as much as the tradition of ceramics. artist bio. Phoebe Collings-James’ practice engages with the contradictions and frictions of everyday life, bringing together ceramic sculpture and painting as sites of confrontation, reciprocity, and transformation. Marks, signs, and iron-rich surfaces operate as traces of resistance, while performance-based processes inform the genesis of the works, embedding the body directly into their making.

23 ⅝ x 17 ¾ x 6 ¼ inches

60 x 45 x 16 cm

Courtesy of the Artist and Arcadia Missa.